It's been about eight years since congressional Republicans first created a D.C. school voucher system, overriding the wishes of local elected officials and voters in the District. The program has been a mixed bag, but the Washington Post had an interesting piece over the weekend on one of the system's more glaring flaws.
Congress created the nation's only federally funded school voucher program in the District to give the city's poorest children a chance at a better education than their neighborhood schools offer.
But a Washington Post review found that hundreds of students use their voucher dollars to attend schools that are unaccredited or are in unconventional settings, such as a family-run K-12 school operating out of a storefront, a Nation of Islam school based in a converted Deanwood residence, and a school built around the philosophy of a Bulgarian psychotherapist.
If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because there's a similar problem unfolding in Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has established a voucher program that uses tax dollars to finance truly bizarre lesson plans, by some religious leaders who are, shall we say, a little eccentric.
To reiterate what we discussed in July, this has always been one of the key problems voucher proponents couldn't resolve. The basic framework is easy enough to follow: (1) identify underperforming public schools; (2) give some of the students at those schools tuition money for private schools; (3) watch those kids' test scores improve thanks to the unproven wonders of private education; and (4) wait for the struggling public schools to get better with less money and fewer smart children.
Aside from the faulty assumptions and serious constitutional questions surrounding giving tax dollars to religious ministries, there's the basic question of accountability.
Voucher proponents want to test public schools to identify which are the best and worst, but they insist private schools be left alone -- even after they get taxpayer money. Voucher advocates don't bother to consider who's running the schools, whether they're qualified to teach children, or even what the curricula looks like. How would anyone know public funds are being well spent? They wouldn't. How would anyone know if the students are benefiting? They wouldn't know that, either.
How would anyone know the private schools have good enough teachers and a strong enough curriculum to deserve tax dollars in the first place? Add that to the list of mysteries.
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American madrassas.... I think this is just a money-making scam that follows the decades-long business strategy of using liberal desire to provide a public service (and therefore tax dollars) to flow through private enterprise since they always do better than government.... but that's the "compromise" the libs fall for every time when the conservatives say they will accept the public service, but only through private contractors. Then they warehouse the kids in rooms all day and play DVDs while low-paid true believer "teachers" monitor the classroom. Think of the profits!
Monolithic institutions can be stifling to the progress of a people, and absent such institutional references, a people can scatter themselves to the wind and have not much to galvanize, for themselves, in terms of a national identity.
The War on the Public Sector has been going on since 1980 (a 32 year assault relentlessly going after our nation's institutional foundations: education in this instance, the postal service, public assistance programs and other programs to help people and establish societal thresholds).
Giving the "gift" of privatization is what Mitt Romney and his band of merry corporate raiders wanted to give America, and I'm glad he was not given the chance! -Kevo
I think charter schools are about as far as we should go with public funds. There is still accountability for results, and the chartering process excludes fly-by-night operators.
In some parts of this country, private schools amount to de facto segregation. The public schools are universally underfunded and therefore awful. The low property taxes allow middle income folks to afford private school, so only poor, mostly minority, kids go to public school.
A voucher system would further subsidize segregation and bankrupt the public schools. Of course, if they made the voucher equal to the cost of private school, and gave the public schools that much money per student, the public schools would do fine.
That's easier said than done, because many people aren't going to see hedge funds as fly by night operators.
Actually in practice there is very little accountability in charter schools either. Texas is a prime example of people using the charter school route to enrich themselves at the expense of the kids. The number of Texas charter schools that have been shut down after several years for fraud is enormous and not even close to the number of charter schools actually committing fraud.
speaking of enrichment. i can't remember (yes, i'm old, shutup) where, but there's a "charter school" that plans to run entirely online. no bricks. no mortar. everything streaming. all pre-recorded lectures.
and the state plans to give them the same amount per student as any other school.
Probably in Louisiana, where Gov. Jindal will sell the future of its citizens for the Republican nomination.
Temporary me, that is the state of Florida's great idea (conservative education reformers) and Jeb Bush is behind it all the way!
The voucher money would be better spent on fixing the existing schools.
Not to mention that there is no way to accurately verify the backgrounds of those who are teaching the classes. Felonies anyone. What if the teacher of a faith-based school was run out of a state because he had problems being around young children? (Sound familiar?)
Why bother, why bother with testing public school students, why bother trying to find out whether these "charter schools" are actually teaching and why bother even sending kids to school in the first place - at least according to GOP theories? After all if what the GOP really want are lemmings that will just vote for them, why bother to educate them at all - they might be educated enough to realize that they are voting against their own best economic interests!
You're absolutely right. The less education they have, the more likely they are to believe what the GOP is shoveling.
If the GOTP realizes their dream, we won't need education anyway. It doesn't take much training to toil all day for your bowl of rice (if you can afford it).
Vouchers for private religious schools definitely shouldn't exist (I'd better not be paying for kids to un-learn science), and vouchers in general are a short-sighted solution to our education woes.
Charters should be rare and well-vetted, and they should not be used to replace public schools. They might be a good answer for unusual or underserved populations, like unwed young mothers or young adults trying to graduate from high school late. But they are generally just sucking money - and possibly more importantly, energy - from neighborhood public schools.
But don't get me started on education. If we would stop messing around with all this public-funding-for-alternative-schools stuff and go back to sufficient funding and external support for neighborhood schools - not to mention respect and support for teachers, the pillars of our community - we'd have a much more equitable system. Plus we'd have the added benefit of having schools that serve as anchors for our communities.
The GOP has long seen education as a money stream, ripe for them and their cronies to dip into and take big, long sips.
It's the Baining of America, folks.
Republican voucher schemes aren't about education or children, they are about breaking the teachers unions and their attachment to the Democratic Party. 100% politics, 100% of the time.
the teachers unions and their attachment to the Democratic Party:
Hence....the problem
Teachers' unions tend to support Democratic policies and politicians and that support is the "problem". In three words, someone who, supposedly, wants to be taken seriously shows his complete disdain for all "non-believers". Not whether or why that support is "bad", it just is "bad". That's some deep thinking there, keep it up!
And as it'll make winning the next several election cycles that much easier, I'd like to say: "Thanks!"
...and funneling public money into private pockets.
Because Freedom!
Because Freedom!
(repeat as necessary until Glenn Beck and/or Ron Paul start to make sense to you).
The voucher system has too many flaws to mention in one post, but let's look at the basic math of the situation. The premise that voucher supporters hang their hats on is that private schools turn out better students than public schools. Ok, I can buy into that argument. But why is that the case? Because private schools are able to cherry pick which students they accept. There is often testing done as a condition of entry, and only the best-scoring students get classroom spots. So they are already selecting the cream of the crop. Then there is class size, which is almost always a number much lower than the average school. Private schools also often have the best educational equipment, from computers to lab equipment. Finally, private schools also have the chance to hire the best of the best in terms of teachers. So, take the best students, pair them with the best teachers, give them the best equipment to help them learn, and put them in an environment best suited to learning, and what do you get? Better results than public schools, which have none of those advantages. If that wasn't the result, parents would certainly not be willing to shell out thousands of dollars a year to put their kids there. Now, let's have a voucher system where all kids can go to those private schools. By doing so, you immediately keep the schools from selecting only the top students. Then you are going to end up increasing class sizes, at least until the schools can undergo extensive, (and expensive) expansion projects. Of course, with more students and classrooms, you will then need more teachers, and again, the schools will probably not be able to be as selective in which teachers they can hire. And finally, with more students, there will have to be an expensive increase in the amount of educational equipment such as computers that will have to be purchased. In the end, unless the state is willing to appropriate a lot of money to fund the expansions and equipment purchases, and wait a few years for the schools to expand, the gap between private and public school education will shrink. That is, unless states like Louisiana are only instituting the voucher system as a thinly-veiled effort to hand over money to religious groups. Then, student achievement is not a factor in determining the success or failure of the voucher system. All that matters is how many votes it garners them in the next election.
You just made a terrific case for private vs. public...if that is what your intention was...lol
public schools are what they are, becasue politicians at all levels place them at the bootom of the list...only time they get to the top is when it is time to cut something.
teachers are under paid and over worked...and parents for the most part treat education like a necessary evil...or babysitter depending on situation. seems everytime someone attempts to fix eduacation they stopped dead in tracks. i say just leave as it is...no one will appreciate changes anyway.
My point was to show that private education as it exists has advantages that for the most part, cannot be scaled up to make a voucher program a worthwhile program. If we instead threw that money into public education, we'd probably see some improvement, but not enough to get the supporters of vouchers to stop their squalling about how all kids should get vouchers to go to private schools. The sad fact is that most of those making the loudest noise would likely never be able to get their kids into private school, even if they had the money. Again, they take the best of the best, and most kids, by definition, are solidly in the middle of the bell curve, not at the high-scoring top end. Our problem is NOT how to make sure the best and brightest get more of the best, but to make sure the vast majority of kids get a solid education. Unfortunately, as long as public schools are funded with property taxes, the haves will get more, the have nots get the leftovers. Poor districts cannot bring in enough tax money to properly fund their schools, and their students start out with a distinct disadvantage. The rise of the Tea Party has now even started costing better school districts, as voters refuse to approve school levies even when they don't request additional funding beyond what they are already getting.
Uffaday's points are the closest to the truth. Public schools cannot pick and choose their students, nor can they insure that parents are involved with the child's education. Allowing vouchers encourages the better and/or affluent students to leave the public school system. It rewards parents by letting them use some of their property taxes to pick a school outside their local public school district. The use of those vouchers decreases the amount of money available to public schools and puts the schools in a downward spiral. The largest public schools systems are the ones that lose the most funds. However, in Chicago there are some charter schools that have failed to demonstrate any higher scores than public schools. The private companies running the schools make money with vouchers and paying teachers less. Less pay and benefits means the best teachers are not necessarily at those schools.
Actually you made a series of false assumptions about private schools. Most private schools actually do not have better equipment because things like libraries and computers are expensive and eat into profit margins. Louisiana is a good example of that. Check out the qualifications fo their schools.
The same thing about hiring staff also applies to the profit margins so they don't hire qualified staff. In TX salaries at charter schools are well below those of public schools.
And last of all, roughly a third of charter schools surveyed are better than the surrounding public schools. The rest are the same or worse and cost more than public schools per pupil.
But your post seems to assume that quality of education factors into the voucher movement. This is completely false. The only reason for the voucher movement is for politically connected people to have another way to feed at the taxpayer trough. Quality of education is only a smokescreen to hide their actual reasons.
Perhaps I should have made some distinctions rather than a broad generalization. Here in MN, we have some excellent private schools that have all of the benefits and advantages that I enumerated. However, Louisiana in particular goes against that description, and in fact, the private "schools" that they are supporting are little better in many cases than what you find in third world or developing countries. When a private school is founded simply as a way to make money for the owners, then dkm is right, things like equipment and qualified teachers only eat into the all-important profit margin. Many of the evangelical christian schools in the south were set up in the wake of desegregation, as a way for whites to keep from having their kids go to school with african american kids. Now they have found receptive legislators that are anxious and willing, like Bobby Jindal, to funnel taxpayer money to them. How is this not a violation of the separation of church and state? If I was in Louisiana, would I be able to open a muslim maddrassa with state money? What if I wanted to open a wiccan school, or even a satanist school? Is this a evangelical christian-only club?
Well, as a matter of fact....I remember reading an article that someone was all aghast that these funds might be used for an Islam school (or do you call it Muslim school ? I'm ignorant here...).
I have kids in public, charter and magnet. We live in a lower income area, so my public school kids are in "poor" schools and it really shows compared to the charter school and the magnet school.
It seems we institure well meaning changes, however always fail to measure the results. Sometimes we are so partisin we interpt the same results differently just to hold our ground. My daughter attends a private Catholic school...last year 100% of the 247 graduates moved on to college/university. The senior class amassed nealy 13M in scholarships from private and public college/university. I am pretty confident that the educator in the classroom makes some difference...as well as the administration...
The school vouchers would subsidize the well to do. The poor would have to add too much to the vouchers to be able to go to a better school and would be stuck with a substandard education. It's a plan similar to the voucher plan the Repubs had in mind for for Medicare.If the GOP had their way they would voucherize every public service so that "private industries" would prosper. Those that could afford supplementing the vouchers would be fine. That way they could keep the great unwashed 47% in their place.
MJ is that a bad thing? What is impacting the poor more than anything - right now...today - is the ridiculous eductional environment they have to endure in public schools. the deck is stacked against the poor...the moment they walk into a public school...
The deck is stacked against the poor long before they walk into the public school. Ask any public school teacher in a high-poverty area. The things those kids deal with are things a lot of middle and upper-class people think are only in bad made-for-TV movies.
Am I missing something? It's wonderful that the rich can buy the best educations, and that graduates from the best stay on top of the pile. And it's also wonderful that the less-than-rich can't afford to buy the best educations, and that they and their children remain stuck in the bottom of the pile? WTF??
I could be cynical about this, but I am one generation removed from 400 years of non-elite, non-entrepreneurial, non-secondary educated ancestors. Me and my Ph.D. from a small state institution, tenured in a small state institution. If there is no ladder for the less-than-rich, we are all f*cked up. And them's fightin' words!
Not to mention that public schools once were the worlds model of education standards until the GOP started "fixing" a problem that wasn't a problem until the GOP "fixed" it. They claimed how well and advanced the Japanese students were, but ignored that Japan had a couple of factors the US couldn't match. First the people of Japan have a long history of every citizen knowing their place in society, they do not question or believe they are equal to those above them. Also Japanese schools from grade K-12 have very little vacation time and longer school days, the GOP has been cutting the number of hours public schools are open so they can cut back on electricity and heat costs. Then there is a third factor, the school book approval committee in Texas who gutted text books so instead of giving students more information the text books give myth or leaves out facts that shows the country as being more progressive then conservatives. Hence we have kids being dumbed down with garbage like the US was founded by christians trying to escape European religions rule of Europe. When reality was there were better opportunities for outcasts in the New World, something todays text books leave out is how Europe got rid of their undesirables by sticking them on ships to colonize the New World.
Like everything else in America, it is All About The Money.
Thank you teatards and GOP! Brilliant leadership here, no question.. Free market education, what will they @!$%# up next?
Trollop...you are assuming it can't get any worse than it already is!
Really, the onus of the public education debacle is on the Democrats now. The current public education system (or lack thereof) fostered the teatards, whom stand with misspelled signs in AstroTurf demonstrations against issues and policy they clearly have no rational or reasonable understanding of to begin with. Education and arts/humanities are the hallmark of successful societies, the choice is simple: Teatard rule or potential/perpetual enlightenment. We're looking to Democrats for leadership, I hate to say.. It is these type of issues which they were hired to resolve and/or legislate for, to improve in the national interest.
trollop: don't hate to say it. shout it. this, and many other issues, are exactly what we hired these folks to take care of. of course, we have to shout even harder at the ones who were elected, apparently to crap on the national interest, as they are deep in the echo chamber. the only time those people listen is when they hear the soft, sweet sound of money coming their way.
p.s. - i always thought a trollop was a female troll. but it appears, from your avatar, that you are a set of occasionally conjoined non-twins. ;-D
Here's what to do. In every state that enacts a voucher program without requiring standards, we should encourage Muslim churches and schools to apply to be in the program.
That will immediately shut the voucher system down in the red states as they scream about sharia law taking over the country. While they fight it out all the way to the Supreme Court, we take the funds back and start doing some serious fixing of the education system we have. Just dreamin'.....
That nearly happened in Louisiana. Representatives in our state were voting pro-voucher knowing that these vouchers could be used at religious institutions. What they DIDN'T take into account is that Islam is a religion.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/valarie-hodges-lawmaker-retracts-support-for-bill_n_1655249.html?product=Norton Internet Security&version=19.1.0.28&layout=OEM30&partner=LENOVO THK-PR(30)&ispid=&sitename=&actstat=not activated&substatus=expired&ncoap=1
RimKitty: thanks for suggesting that the best (only?) use for the followers of Islam is to whip up some good old hatred. would it also be acceptable to sic the LGBT community on them too. after all, they get hated for no reason too.
it would be better to suggest opening charter/private schools run by good educators to teach reality-based courses to at least save some of these children from this despicable system.
Here's the major problem with vouchers – taxpayers think that they're getting something when in fact they're getting nothing. They're being fed a fish head. All vouchers do was take money out of public school systems and transfer that money into mediocre if not substandard "private schools." It is that simple. Republicans love it because middle-class parents are screaming for alternatives. As a bonus, Republicans are basically defunding schools which in turn are defunding teachers unions which is their primary goal.
Voucherizing education would exacerbate the problem for the poor. Privatization would fill the coffers of the venture capitalists and the poor would suffer even more segregation and a much inferior education. Put money and incentives for the public schools to perform well. The Repubs answer to everything is privatization-we know how that would work because we know how they feel about the 47%.
If anything from Washington could fix a public school system, then DC should have the best school system in the nation. You would think the best public school educational minds in the nation are present in Department of Education. If each of these people just devoted an hour a month to the DC school system, it would be fixed in no time.
If the long failing public school system in our nation capital is not a sign that the current model is not fixable, this would be it. This doesn't mean that vouchers are the solution but it is evidence that Washington can not fix a local school system.
I went to private schools from kindergarten through high school, and I really wish I had to opportunity to go to public school.
What I remember from private school:
Having 45 students in Algebra I, some of them having to sit on radiators in the back of the room.
Having to have study hall within economics class (two grades above where I was) and having such a hard time focusing on my own studies that, for a lark, I took a written economics exam and got an 80%.
Being part of a large 7th grade class that was completely unsupervised for one period a day. One day, some of the other girls were chasing each other around the classroom and one girl tried to get away by going in the bathroom and slamming the door. An asbestos tile fell out of the ceiling and broke on her head and she had to go home with a bad rash.
Exploring the woods around the school by myself during lunch.
Being moved from the front of the class to the back and then my best friend sharing her eyeglasses with me (we passed them back and forth) so I could see the board. No teacher called my parents. I eventually broke down and told my mom myself how I knew I needed glasses.
So, you see, I really, really do not want my tax money funding unregulated private schools.
And you think it would have all been better in a public school? Answer: It depends on which public school. Because I went to a private school k-12, too. I was the only student in my Senior level Advanced Math/Trigonometry class because the other seniors realized they didn't need another math class to graduate.
So, you see, I really, really do not want my tax money funding unregulated private schools.
I can tell you just as many stories from public schools. I really, really do not want my tax money funding unregulated any school...public or private.
Lastly, you write:
What were you doing, waiting on the teacher to tell your parents? You knew you needed glasses (you admitted as much) and you didn't tell your parents, why would you place this requirement on the teacher?
Why would I place the requirement on the teacher about my needing glasses? The truth is, my mother often did not take bad news well, especially bad news that cost money, and I was scared to tell her. I was hoping that hearing it from a teacher would soften the blow.
Now that I am a grown-up I still feel that teachers should speak up if they see that a student has trouble seeing or hearing. It is common sense, and helps everyone concerned.
My son is going to public school and he had vision screenings in both elementary and middle school.
While I can certainly understand and sympathize with the circumstance (both my parents had to work), it is strange that you seem to blame the teacher and the school system. While I certainly agree with...
...your experience is so anecdotal. You seem to imply that all private schools are like the one you attended and that is just not the case.
I'm for better schools and given that years and years of trying almost the exact same thing hasn't worked, if vouchers, charter schools, or something else can offer better outcome, then I'm all for it.
Here's a another great blog post (Diane Ravitch) on another horrible voucher scheme. I hope the link posts.
http://dianeravitch.net/2012/11/18/michigan-is-on-its-way-to-ending-public-education/